Empty Spaces [IC]

[The Hellbug]

"Medea!" Rose shouts as she spots her familiar, paying no heed to the voice this time, so great is her relief, "I'm so glad to see you're alright!" Rose's relief, however, is not mirrored in the fox. Medea's head pops up from her scrounging when she hears her name, quickly identifying the source of of the disturbance but failing to identify her master. Their empathetic link, however, is still intact, and Medea, made cautious by the strangeness of the encounter, lowers her head and begins to slowly back away from the halfling.

The fox's unease takes Rose by surprise, but the connection itself is enough to prove that she has made no mistake and that this is her long-time companion and friend, to say nothing of the canniness in her eyes that could never belong to a mere animal or the red handkerchief that Rose, herself, had fastened around her neck. "What's wrong? Are you alright?" a concerned Rose asks, following slowly but deliberately. Medea's response, however, is unchanged.

Something was seriously wrong here. The most troubling thing, however, is that Rose cannot feel an ounce of maliciousness in her familiar's actions--she is merely a stranger to be cautious with, not an enemy. A pit begins forming in her stomach as the truth begins to dawn on her: Medea, her constant companion and perhaps closest friend, doesn't recognize her. This realization hits her as hard as any physical blow when she , and the sorceress staggers to the alley wall, slumping down to the cobbled ground.

That's impossible. I can still feel her, and she must still be able to feel me. How could she not recognize that bond? Maybe a spell? Whoever attacked me wanted to separate us. As Rose tries to justify her situation, however, the fear she had felt begins to give way to despair, and she is left with one thought.

What had that voice said? ...doomed to be forgotten as if she never lived at all.

Rose had faced life and death situations before, but there had always been someone there to stand by her side. To be an utter stranger to her dearest friend...

As tears begin to form in Rose's eyes, she doesn't hear Medea silently pad up to her. The first she notices of the fox is her warmth as she lays her head on Rose's knee. The unease she had emanated just moments before is tempered by something else. Compassion? Curiosity? Rose wipes her eyes and looks down at Medea. "You don't remember me, do you?" Rose asks.

The fox shakes her head.

"But you still want to help?"

The fox nods.

"And here I was, thinking that I had lost you," Rose remarks, and, as she pats Medea's head, the corner of her mouth turns up slightly. She gets back up to her feet and announces, "well, I was just on my way to the Duskwardens' Guildhouse, do you know the way?"

With a yip, the fox takes a few steps in the direction Rose was heading before turning around to wait for her recently-deceased master to follow. One foot ahead of the other...

Soon, the Duskwarden Guildhouse looms in front of them.